


The Gingerbread Fiasco

by MaraudingManaged



Series: The Not-So-Blind Date Universe [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Facebook: The Fairest of the Rare, Fairest of the Rare Secret Santa 2019, Fluff, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:48:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21906256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaraudingManaged/pseuds/MaraudingManaged
Summary: When Pansy's pregnant friend demands gingerbread, Pansy knows she has to find gingerbread.She didn't expect to find Neville Longbottom - who was much fitter than she last recalled.
Relationships: Neville Longbottom/Pansy Parkinson
Series: The Not-So-Blind Date Universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610788
Comments: 18
Kudos: 52
Collections: Fairest's Secret Santa Drabble Exchange 2019





	The Gingerbread Fiasco

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PacificRimbaud](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PacificRimbaud/gifts).



> Happy Christmas, PacificRimbaud.  
> I LOVED this prompt, and I enjoyed being nice to our Pansy for once! I hope you enjoy this little fluffy bit of nonsense.
> 
> Thank you SO much to the lovely Nik for being a beta-in-a-pinch to wrangle my errant words <3

Gingerbread men.

Daphne, half-mad with pregnancy cravings and a husband absent to Auror duties, had requested gingerbread men from the only witch able to fulfil her needs. Pansy liked to think herself an obliging woman these days, but she couldn’t help but notice that it was 7pm. 

On a Sunday. 

When all the shops were shut. 

She shuddered, wrapping her heavy cloak tighter around herself and ducking her head against the biting chill of the wind whistling down Diagon Alley. It was a futile effort, but she had to make some gesture as proof she’d had a good look. She hoped that Daphne’s cravings would return to the usual mixture of banana and salted caramel ice-creams; flavours Pansy had  _ plenty _ of, stashed in her cooling cabinet.

It was the orange glow from hazy windows that caught her eye first - long after the shop should have closed. But it was the spicy scent that drew her under the eaves, along with a simple mahogany hanging sign reading ‘Cakes and confections, all sorts’. She glanced at the door where a delicately-carved ‘closed’ sign hung behind the frosting panes and sighed, raising her hand.

“You’d better appreciate this, Daph,” Pansy muttered, rapping on the door. 

It took a few moments before someone answered. She didn’t look at them, didn’t even give them a chance to speak, before her words ran away with her with a tinge of desperation that wasn’t entirely false. 

“I’m sorry to bother you, but I couldn’t help but notice the smell from your shop. My best friend is pregnant and she wants gingerbread, and she doesn’t have an elf, so-  _ holy-fucking-shit, _ ” Pansy inhaled as she finally glanced up at the towering figure in the doorway, her eyes wide. “Longbottom! Shit, I - oh, forget it, I’ll go -” 

She spun on the heel of her boot, ready to march off into the night when a hand grasped her shoulder. 

“Parkinson,” he said, voice more gravelly than she’d remembered. “Come in, for Merlin’s sake - it’s freezing out here. I’ll get the kettle on, alright? It’s got to be something big to get you banging on my door at this time of night.” 

“I didn’t know this was your bakery. I didn’t even know you baked, for Salazar’s sake!” Shefinally looked up at the boy - man - whose life she had made a living hell for too many years at Hogwarts. 

Neville Longbottom, all six-foot-and-then-some of him, gazed down at her, silhouetted against the soft glow of the old lamps that lit the little bakery. His eyes were warm, soft creases forming at the corner as he… smiled at her? 

It was a little crooked, but it was genuine and wry and it stirred something deep within Pansy that she’d not felt in quite some time. Because puberty had been unquestionably generous to Neville Longbottom, and Pansy swallowed as a blush burned up her face. 

“Gingerbread, yeah? Well - you’re in luck. I’m baking a batch for tomorrow. You might have to hang around to wait for them to firm up, if you can?” 

“Of course, but… why are you being  _ nice _ to me, Longbottom?” Pansy blurted, and he shrugged as he moved out of the doorway, gesturing for her to follow into the welcoming warmth.

“Why not? We all spent too long being arseholes to eachother, and it’s knackering. Now, bloody come in, will you?” 

Pansy hesitated for only a moment before following, kicking the door closed behind her. 

* * *

“They aren’t moving,” Pansy frowned, poking one figure with the tip of a perfectly manicured fingernail, putting her teacup down.

“Nah; the Muggle way tastes better. Charms toughen up the dough. Here - try one.” He held out a perfect star, and his fingers lingered on hers as he placed it in her outstretched palm. She eyed it suspiciously and he chuckled. “It’s gingerbread, not Devil’s Snare. It’s not going to choke you.” Longbottom rolled his dark eyes as he started to box up the fresh biscuits.

“Who knows? This could be an elaborate plot to ensure my demise,” Pansy groused, but lifted the still-warm biscuit to her lips and took a hesitant nibble. As the butter and spice flooded her mouth, a thoroughly indecent moan escaped her lips. 

“This is better than sex,” she breathed, unashamed, and Longbottom coughed on a laugh.

“Don’t think you’ve been having very good sex then, have you?” He grinned at her, little dimples forming in his rosy cheeks, and Pansy felt the flutter in her stomach again as she looked across at him. 

“Longbottom,” she began, bloody blushing  _ again _ , reaching to grasp the now-boxed gingerbread. “I should be going.”

He leaned over the marble countertop, muscled forearms dusted with dark hair, and he sodding  _ winked _ as he covered her dainty hand with his own. 

“Neville. Call me Neville, Pansy.”


End file.
